Deliveries High, Starts Low During First Quarter

Thu, 2008-04-03 13:49

CoStar has up a comprehensive round-up on the state of shopping center development. The company found that 25 million square feet of new centers came online during the quarter--about the same as last year. It's a tiny bit alarming that a wave of new space debuted into a market where tenants are pulling back and slowing new store openings. The company also notes that space will continue to come online during the rest of the year.

On the positive side, CoStar reports just 6 million square feet of new starts. Overall, both numbers confirm something we've been hearing anecdotally for months. Projects that were in the pipeline before the economy soured are opening as scheduled. Developers don't pull the plug once construction has started. But if you hadn't started building anything, you likely have postponed the project.